The point was about Ryan Tannehill, not Brian Hartline. Perhaps if you weren't viewing some things so much through the lens of "film versus stats," you would've followed that more accurately.
No WAY are the Packers better off letting him walk. Re-signing him was absolutely HUGE. I saw this on here last night and didn't get logged in to respond until today. Adams is talented and will look really good as a #3. He's big, physical, really good after the catch and he can catch in traffic, but he's not a special WR. MAYBE he'll become one, just not sure. Nelson is underrated athletically. The CB's on the Packers and other teams call him "white chocolate," in reference to the perception he's slow because he's white...but at 6'3, 220 and a 4.45-ish 40, he's a really great athlete. But for the Packers to actually beat a team like Seattle, they need someone like Cobb. He can play RB, he creates matchup problems by coming out of the backfield and having a LB on him...he's more important than Nelson in my opinion, and he's 3-4 years younger. Our offense would have been good either way. But he was absolutely essential. He's not like James Jones or Greg Jennings(who was also worth the extension we gave him when HE was in his mid 20's.
What? They have 33 million dollars in cap room, and that's without trying to do ANYTHING. They COULD if they needed knock off 15-20 million by restructuring Rodgers and Peppers alone. The Packers might be in the situation cap wise in the NFL due to how they handle it. They don't pay in the latter years, and they're pretty strict about setting a value for a player and determining how much they'll actually end up going. And this is all setting aside the fact that they COULD give huge signing bonuses and backload money if they really wanted. They could re-sign every player who's a FA, sign Suh to a 15 million per year deal and still have room left over if they just did so by dipping into their half billion dollar reserve fund(like they did when Rodgers and Matthews were up). Privately owned team, 20,000 additional seats due to recent renovating+season ticket waiting list that averages 30+ years leaves a LOT of cash to spend. Of course it also kinda sucks that half the fans going to games are the same age as the Fox news viewership, but not having enough money is not going to be a reason the Packers let anyone get away under Thompson. Being ASININELY stubborn and not budging on what you believe a player is worth may(though this time he went a BIT above) but not lack of cap space/bonus money.
Decent contract. Both him and Nelson signed to deals that are much better than Wallaces....both better than him. Sigh.
They are better because they play with probably the best passing QB in the NFL today. I think if Wallace played for the Packers he would probably catch passes for 1500 yards and have at least 15 TD catches a year. It isn't Wallace's fault that he was signed to open up the offense by being a deep threat, while the weakness of Tannehill is his lack of accuracy on the deep ball. I'm not happy with what transpired in the Jets game between Wallace and the coaching staff, but he gets too much blame for things which are not his fault. The fact is that he is still the best WR on the Dolphins roster at this time and if they cut or trade him, they will have a big hole to fill in trying to find his replacement.
Cobb is smart to stay. He knows where his bread is buttered. Play with Rodgers...make pro bowls...compete for a title every year.
And both play with Aaron Rodgers, who is the best qb in the league and has the best td to int ratio in the history of the nfl. In terms of comparing contracts and player skills though, are cobb and jordy really better and is the contract we gave wallace, that ludicrous? Cobbs signed for 10 per year after 4 years in the league, while comparing those 4 years to wallace, Cobb had almost 1k yards less and 7 td's less than cobb. One could argue that the extra 2 mil per year we gave wallace is suitable to the 225 yards and 2 tds more per season he was averaging. Now Jordy was given a 4/39 million after 5 years in the league. Not too much less than Wallace but lets look at his numbers through 5 years in the league. Despite playing a full year more than wallace did before being given a big contract, Wallace still had 700 more yards and 4 more tds then Jordy had. Now we look at Wallace's last years and what has changed? Tannehill is throwing him the ball instead of big ben. I love Tannehill but he's new to the qb position after taking some time off in college and he's been in 2 systems in 3 years. Lets give Wallace and Tannehill the benefit of a critical third year together to show what both are truely made of but in terms of talent Wallace is every bit as good, if not better than cobb and jordy. Wallace has also consistently put up 750 yards and 5 tds a year ( numbers not worth his contract we gave him but still) no matter who or what system he's been in ( was in 2 systems in pitt and 2 here in miami) meanwhile nelson has had 3 seasons under 400 yards which is as many seasons as he's had over 1k and a average season with 700 yards, while cobb has really only had this last year and one other decent season.
That doesn't make any sense. If it were as easy as having a guy run fast in a straight line, the Packers would have gotten someone like that. His absolute best season with a QB who wasn't limited in his deep throwing was 1,257 and 10.
and what does that change? maybe he gets his 700 yards to tie wallace, Wallace still has way better numbers before a contract is given considering jordy had an extra season and would of put up almost exactly what wallace put up through 4.....
My view is that Wallace is better than either of them. He just plays with a QB who has trouble throwing the deep ball. Last year Nelson had over 1500 yards in receptions. Since I think Wallace is better than Nelson, I see no reason he couldn't exceed 1500 yards in receiving if he played with the Packers and had Rogers throwing him the ball. Your assumption is that Wallace can only run fast and in a straight line. If that were the case, he wouldn't have been the teams leading receiver the past two years. Because Tannehill certainly hasn't shown the ability to consistently throw the ball to Wallace when he used his speed to run right past the opposing teams secondary. Wallace led the receivers in yardage and TD's by doing exactly what you seem to be implying he can't do. That was running routes which got him open underneath the coverage and getting open to catch 10 TD passes. With better passing by Tannehill on down field passes, Wallace could have easily had 300-400 yards more in receptions and probably another 5-6 TD's, if not more.
I'd take either one over Wallace any day of the week. Any day of the week. Period. I agree that Wallace's numbers would go up but he wouldn't be the kind of player that Cobb and Nelson are.
You also seem to be leaving out the fact that Nelson was our #4 WR for the first couple years, and Cobb was breaking out big time when he broke his leg, but also was a victim of a surplus in offensive talent. We've had Greg Jennings, James Jones, JerMicheal Finley, Donald Driver among others to divide the catches up among. Last year was the first time we had 2 guys who truly separated themselves. I think the difference between Nelson/Cobb and Wallace is that both are more versatile. Nelson as I said is a blazer, he can run. He's arguably the best in the league on the boundry, he goes over the middle and he fights for extra yards. Cobb plays RB, lines up in the slot, and the reason Rodgers is so good when the play breaks down is because Cobb is the best the Packers have had(since I've watched and that's been 25 years) and playing off a QB scramble. You can break down the numbers all you want, and there is too much nuance to get into it too deeply, but the fact is(well, I guess my opinion is) that Wallace is great if you have a QB who can throw the ball downfield, but that's about it. Nelson put up huge numbers last year when playing with Seneca Wallace, Matt Flynn and Scott Tolzien. The Packers usually let WR's walk rather than paying them. These two right now are just REALLY good. Wallace can be as well, but I think he's more dependent on having a specific type of QB. Nelson and Cobb, while benefiting from playing with Rodgers I think would produce in just about any system.
